This entry isn't really about the same thing I wrote about yesterday. It might seem that way, but it's not, because that would be dumb. I'm not here to berate NBC for its Olympics coverage. But I would like to say that they should get their act together and figure out what they're doing, because they're spoiling things for me. So here goes.

Even the studio hosts seem to be confused by the disjointed coverage. Jim Lampley blew it on CNBC today. After a preview of the curling and a promise that more would be coming up later, the network went back to the studio and Lampley told us the results!

Sort of.

Not exactly, but he said that the U.S. and Canadian women's teams would play each other for the bronze tomorrow. That's right. Before showing us the semifinals, they told us who would not be in the gold medal final.

You don't have to know much to know what that meant: that they both lost. Great Britain beating Canada is an upset (I think; what do I know, really?), but Switzerland beating the U.S. probably isn't, even though the U.S. women had won four games in a row. They always seemed to have to come from behind.

When CNBC finally got around to showing the game, Lampley interrupted one of those round-table confabs that they do so well. "You curling fans have heard enough hockey talk, so let's go back to the Ice Sheet in Ogden." Well thanks for throwing us a bone, Jim. It's one thing to read the results ahead of time by accident on Yahoo, and quite another to have you let it slip. My solution: show the events live! Everybody wins!

It was a little disconcerting to know that this time the U.S. women's curling team wouldn't be coming from behind. It looked as if they might have had a shot, but knowing that they'd already lost took some of the edge off my rapt interest. I didn't even mind when I had a couple of phone calls during the broadcast. I was taping it anyway, and when I watch it again in July I won't remember I knew the results ahead of time.

Okay, yes, I will.

They never did bother to show us any of the Canada-Great Britain game. Later, as they were vamping for more hockey, Lampley read off a list of starting times for the four remaining medal games in curling. It almost seemed as if he was telling us they were going to show us those games live. We know from bitter experience that this ain't gonna happen. What a tease, Jim. Go back to boxing and other pretend sports. Sheesh.

So I was rolling along, watching the Olympics this afternoon, when... Wait, I wasn't exactly "watching," just listening to some of that endless hockey talk while I worked. But anyway, the Olympics broadcast was on, and then suddenly nothing was on but an info screen saying that my DirecTV receiver had to re-acquire the satellite. So I missed five minutes of talking heads, but no curling, so whoever jammed my satellite is free to go. But don't let it happen again.